I hate when networks synchronize their timing of commercials.  I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have several CABLE TV stations to fill in while network stations go into advertisements.  But, alas, sometimes, even the cable stations are synchronized with the network stations and I am subjected to the dreaded 2 minutes worth of commercials.  As I watch, in my humble opinion, the dumbest ads ever, sometimes I just say out loud, “What were they thinking??”  Like the Burger King ad highlighting a humongous sandwich with a plastic looking King “talking” to a lumberjack.  You all could probably tell me a few more ads that you could live without!

I must admit, however, there have been a few ads that are creative, make me laugh or are profound in some way.  I think the Master Card ads with the “priceless” endings are really profound.  Have you seen the ad for the giant M and M’s – that one made me laugh.  The i Tunes ad with the Girl walking with the earphones on, but her shadow is dancing is pretty creative!  Breast Cancer awareness ads are informative.  There have even been a few Microsoft ads that make you think.  The Microsoft “Your Potential, Our Passion” ads are inviting because they go beyond the present and draw out the possibilities of the future.  There is one ad that has a little boy sitting at a dining room table and in comes these white lines outlining a grand piano while the announcer is saying something like, “We see Marco as a Jazz Master, Rock Star or Classical Virtuoso.”    Someone was dreaming dreams and having visions and helping us to see what can be for this little boy sitting at the dining room table.

In our scripture lesson in Acts this morning, Peter boldly stands up and states that older people will dream dreams and younger people will see visions.  I think Mircosoft might have seen this text as they were thinking up their ad campaign.  Somehow, Peter remembered what the prophet Joel said about dreams and visions and Peter was inspired to help his listeners remember that what is right now is not the end of it.  That God’s Spirit will be poured out and we will have not just little boys sitting at the dining room table, but that Louis Armstrongs and BB Kings will be created and gifted.  If only we could see not just the here and now, but also all the possibilities of the future.  I love the fact that I can see Andrew and Sarah not only as they are now, but the possibility of them becoming the next Matt Damon or Jodie Foster.  Or that Christine might be an Olympic Equestrian Rider or that Little Mary Grace and Kellye could be the next drama queens on the big screen.  Or that Brian might be the next preacher coming out of FPC!

People of God, what are you seeing??

As one pastor puts it,God’s spirit is poured out.  Older people will dream and start seeing things.  When they start seeing things beyond reality, beyond what is in front of them, beyond their daily routine, when they see what the dream will do, they see it will spark a vision in the young people around them.  The young people will go out and make a radical impact in the world…  Do you know our young people can take the church where it’s never gone before?  They can present Christianity in a way that it has never been presented.  Our young people are going to take this thing into the new millennium- Not us!  But we’ve got to start seeing it.  We have got to see young people for more than what we see in reality.  We’ve got Kings and Queens around us.  We’ve got warriors around us.  We’ve got leaders.  Can you see it?  … We have got to be able to see the potential!  (Efrim Smith “Seeing Things:  Dreams That Fuel Vision” pps 2, 4, 6)

People of God, what are you seeing??

I am seeing many things. 

I see hundreds of children cramming into our classrooms and learning the Biblical stories in new and fresh ways- ways that reflect how they learn, not how I learn.

I see youth understanding and practicing the Christian disciplines such as prayer and theological reflection that provide substance to who they are and encouragement on their journeys of faith as they are faced with difficult decisions about friends, drugs, sex and moral ambiguities.

I see 2 sides of room 233 up the stairs from this sanctuary being remodeled so that there is an arched and open “family room” for parents to rest and find fellowship with one another- of course it has a coffee bar in there too!

I see 5 teams of adults taking a week of vacation to experience a mission trip which will change their spiritual lives forever.

I see praise stomp bands, instrumental orchestras, complex and moving classical offerings and kids singing off key and loving it!

I see real spiritual growth in each one of us and a kind of unity in all of our diversity that only the Spirit can manage!

I see technology being a part of our worship!

I see each of us struggling to find our passion and then finding ways to use it to further the kingdom of God.

People of God, what are you seeing???  Where is our potential?

Today we are in our 4th week of our mission and identity sermon series and this morning we are looking at the last phrase of our mission statement:  Express the power of the Spirit who ignites and transforms.

 Our scripture text tells us that God will pour out God’s Spirit and all types of things will begin to happen.  This Spirit helps us dream dreams and see visions.  This Spirit helps us to be bold in our actions with others.  This Spirit ignites and transforms…

Ignites and transforms.  What is the first thing that comes to your mind when I say the word… IGNITE?  Any pyromaniacs out there care to share?  (get some answers if possible)  All I could think of is someone needs to light a fire underneath me to go to the gym!

Ignite is an explosive word.  There’s the feeling of being prodded; of moving from a duldrum state to a state of focused and furious action; of creating energy for something that needs to be done;  of feeling like you will not rest if you do not do that certain thing you are called to do.  It’s like the initial lighting of those coals in your grill when the lighter fluid saturates them or when the gas whooshes upward.  It can feel like unending heartburn if you don’t listen!

I think the Spirit ignites us and keeps us restless enough that if we don’t act on the Spirit’s leading, we will stay stuck and usually miserable! 

What kinds of things has the Spirit ignited in your life?  How do you want to engage in this church or in the world that “sets you on fire?”  Do you feel any stirrings at all??  If you don’t, come see me sometime- I have a prod for you!!

The Spirit not only stirs and ignites, but it also transforms.  We are changed by the very touch of God, but especially when we actually act on the Spirit’s stirring.  We can’t help but to be changed by the projects we work on and the people we interact with when we give of ourselves in service to others.  I have seen attitudes change, churches change, marriages change and relationships healed because of the persistent work of the Spirit in people’s lives.  God’s Spirit changes lives!  One noted theologian states,There is some very fine teaching available on the Holy Spirit, and I hope none of you is satisfied with it.  I hope none of you rests until you have felt the Holy Spirit blow through your own life, rearranging things, opening things up… There is nothing you can do to make this happen, as far as I know, except to pray, “Come Holy Spirit” every chance you get.  If you don’t want anything to change in your life, then for heaven’s sake, don’t pray that, but if you are the type of person that likes to stand out on the porch when there is a storm moving through so you can feel the power that is pushing the trees around, then you are a good candidate for the Holy Spirit prayer. (Barbara Brown Taylor, Home by Another Way, pgs. 145-146)

Now, Bill likes to go outside during storms, but I don’t!  But I hope that I can be a candidate for the Holy Spirit prayer too!  To pray for the Spirit to come means we will be open to the possibility of impossible things to happen.  Just this week, I went to a called meeting of the Presbytery to hear a report from 2 of the members of the “peace, unity and purity” task force, that several years ago our General Assembly constituted.  There were 20 people on this task force and there was a wide diversity of theological perspectives and views.  There were men and women, gay and straight, conservatives and liberals, young and old, all different races and ethnicities.  One of the speakers told us of the process that they undertook as they began their deliberations.  It started out like every other task force the GA has formed, but something miraculous happened.  One wise person had the boldness to say that if they started out like every other task force, the results would be the same- winners and losers, moving into different camps so you could defend your side.  This woman spoke a word of truth and set forth a different way of being with each other that helped define their process and discern the will of God.  It was inspiring and hopeful because what came forth from the committee was a commitment to find another way of interacting with each other and to find creative recommendations to some potentially denomination splitting issues.  The mutual respect and caring these 2 polar opposite speakers had for each other gave us commissioners to Presbytery hope for the future.  The speakers and us commissioners knew the source of their power, for it was only God’s Spirit infiltrating their lives and the life of the group that could have banned them together as one.  It was truly one of the most inspiring Presbytery meetings I have ever been to.

We have been sent to encounter God, Experience Christ and now we are to Express the power of the Spirit.  In Acts chapter 1 verse 8 it states, “What you will get is the Holy Spirit.  And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world.”

You are my witnesses.  As one pastor states, “you can tell a lot about a God by the behavior and the character of the followers.  You are what most people will experience about Christianity.  Whether you like it or not, you are the only thing some people know about Christianity.” (Mike Slaughter, Real Witnesses:  The Road Less Traveled, pg. 1)

Expression entails that someone sees or hears or experiences something from you.  We are witnesses by the way we speak, act and serve.  Whether we are in the grocery line, the Wal-Mart, McDonalds, on retreat, in church, with friends, or doing our sports thing, we are witnesses- we are expressing the transforming power of God in our lives. Think about this for a moment.  I was at Costco the other day, and of course, I picked the wrong line to be in.  It was obvious that the poor guy was new- he was forever slow, could not multitask to save his life, rolled my hotdog up in the foil the wrong way, kept messing up the register and had to ask the other cashier how to do everything.  I was rolling my eyes at Bill and grumbling under my breath until I stopped myself and moved from annoyance to compassion.  I am a witness in all that I say and do! 

How do you treat others?  Are you mindful of the transforming power of God in your life and do you express the power of the Spirit in all that you do?As I was reading a devotional book called, “Noah Built His Ark In The Sunshine” by James Moore, he indicates that he ran across an article in Good Housekeeping that reminded him of the importance of treating others as if the Spirit lived in you.  The article was about some advice to women about how to find a good husband.  It goes like this:

There are 6 ways to learn everything you ever need to know about a man before you decide to marry him:

• First, watch him drive in heavy traffic.

• Second, play tennis with him.

• Third, listen to him talk to his mother when he doesn’t know you are listening.

• Fourth, see how he treats those who serve him (like waiters, ushers, maids,…)

• Fifth, notice how and for whom he spends his money.

• Sixth, look at his friends.

[Now, this is definitely dated material and these questions can be just as pertinent to a man trying to find a good wife,] but did you notice a common theme?  The guidelines have to do with how we treat other people… the way we treat other people reveals a lot about who we are.  (pg. 71)

What do you sound and look like on the beltway???  How do you treat the Wendy’s worker? 

We are to be witnesses and to express the power of the transforming God.

One more thought.  Our scripture lesson is from the book of the Bible called the Acts of the Apostles, not Belief of the Apostles.  Acts implies action.  As one pastor puts it, “The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is in you!  Do you know how you have to release that Spirit?  Serve!”  (Mike Slaughter, Acts:  On Mission, pg 3)

Do you feel the burn yet?  Have you sensed the Spirit at work in your life?

Are you dreaming dreams for this church?  Have you caught the vision yet?

How is God calling you to express the Spirit?

Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on us!  Amen.